z
respond in writing to business letters, official communications
z
read and identify the main points / significant details of texts like scripts of audio-video interviews, discussions, debates etc.
z
write without prior preparation on a given topic and be able to defend or explain the position taken / views expressed in the form of article, speech, or a debate
z
write a summary of short lectures on familiar topics by making / taking notes
z
write an assessment of different points of view expressed in a discussion / debate
z
read poems effectively (with proper rhythm and intonation)
z
to transcode information from a graph / chart to a description / report and write a dialogue, short story or report
Language Items In addition to consolidating the grammatical items practiced earlier, the courses at secondary level seek to reinforce the following explicitly: z
sequence of tenses
z
reported speech in extended texts
z
modal auxiliaries (those not covered at upper primary)
z
non-finites (infinitives, gerunds, participles)
z
conditional clauses
z
complex and compound sentences
z
phrasal verbs and prepositional phrases
z
cohesive devices
z
punctuation (semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parenthesis or use of brackets and exclamation mark)
Methods and Techniques The methodology is based on a multi-skill, activity based, learner centred approach. Care is taken to fulfil the functional (communicative), literary (aesthetic) and cultural (sociological) needs of the learner. In this situation the teacher is the facilitator of learning, s(he) presents language items, contrives situations which motivates the child to use English for the purposes of communication and expression. Aural-oral teaching and testing is an integral feature of the teaching-learning process. The electronic and print media could be used extensively. The evaluation procedure should be continuous and comprehensive. A few suggested activities are : z
Role playing
z
Simulating real-to-life situations
90